The third and final Grand Tour of the season is officially underway. For the occasion, the Vuelta a España started in Italy this Saturday, with a first stage made for the sprinters between Turin and Novara. Thibaud Gruel tried to join the fight but was ultimately unable to contest the final sprint. All the riders of the Groupama-FDJ cycling team finished in the bunch, which will tackle a first summit finish in Limone Piemonte on Sunday.
As it happened in the last Tour de France, the sprinters had the chance to go for the first leader’s jersey on Saturday, in the Vuelta. In Italy, only one climb was on the menu of this opening stage, and it was too far from the finish to have any influence on the race. Six men took the lead five minutes after the start in Turin, and the peloton easily controlled the chase in the back. “It was quite an uneventful stage, as expected,” explained William Green. “A few teams rode throughout the day, mainly Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek, and the gap stayed between one and two minutes during the whole stage.” Shortly after the halfway point, the breakaway broke up, and only Hugo De La Calle kept the adventure going in front of the pack, until about forty kilometres from the finish. “For us, the goal was to support Thibaud in the sprint today,” added William. “The second objective was to look after David, Rudy, and Guillaume ahead of tomorrow’s summit finish.” Once the last fugitive was caught, the peloton continued to move at a sustained pace towards Novara, especially in the final twenty kilometres.
“An interesting final on Sunday,” William Green
“We moved to the front of the peloton in the final thirty kilometres,” William explained. “We don’t have an optimal team for the last five kilometres of such a stage, but if we could protect Thibaud, save him as much energy as possible, and keep him calm, that could be useful to him for the final. We saw a strong collective that was 100% invested. They really supported Thibaud, who will do the same for them on the following stages.” In the final five kilometres, the young Frenchman initially managed his way through quite well, cruising around fifteenth position. “He had a good position, alongside Pedersen, until the roundabout at two kilometres”, William said. “Then, I think he spent a bit of energy to move back up, and at some point, some riders came back from behind and he got boxed.” The 21-year-old was then unable to take part in the sprint, finishing the day in 24th place. “We expected a lot more, because we know he’s capable of it when you see the way he’s been riding in Poland,” added William. “It’s not the perfect start, but there are 20 stages to go and more sprints to come.”
The next sprint, more demanding, is expected on Monday. In the meantime, a first summit finish in Limone Piemonte (4.5 km at 6.4%) is on the agenda for tomorrow. “It’s an interesting final,” concluded William. “It’s a hilltop finish, but it’s not that challenging. So we don’t expect any big differences, but we have a nice team for this final, for the likes of David and Rudy. We will support them as best we can and try to really launch this Vuelta”.
